After the incident, the manager had let them off with a warning, but even then, the duo was kept under close watch.

Even the staff members gave them wary looks, and quickened their pace when they walked by.

The black haired boy kept his head down, unable to look at his best friend.

"I'm sorry Missy. I should have kept better control of Lax. I sincerely apologize." the boy bowed even lower.

Before the lady could attempt to comfort Diamond out of his guilt, a certain blonde haired teen approached them.

"Man Dia! You sure screwed up this time huh?" the blonde snickered. Platina shot him a glare as Dia's guilt seemed to deepen.

"Pearl, you're my bodyguard. The role of a bodyguard is to protect your client no matter what the situation. And yet you..."

"I what? Did the reasonable thing and escape while I can?"

"Well at the very least Dia over here-"Diamond's face flushed a good bit as the 'gentle' girl gruffly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to her side. Pearl's right eye twitched. "knows how to stand by his client!"

"Well-" Pearl paused in mid-sentence, his common-sense finally kicking in and realizing that arguing with one's potential partner was not a good idea. He opened his mouth to argue, before promptly closing it, letting out an annoyed sigh.

"Fine whatever, you win." the blond admitted, scratch the back of his head with his hand.

"That's good to hear. Now let's leave that incident as that, shall we?" Platina said, all signs of anger disappearing without a trace.

The trio nodded simultaneously.

"Of all the things there are on this ship, we had to go for shuffleboard?" the blond complained.

"Oh quit complaining Pearl. At least Dia finally found a sport he likes." Platinum replied as she turned to look at the boy with the red beret. Pearl seemed to question the logic of considering shuffleboard as a sport.

Diamond's eyes were fixed on the white puck, his eyes as focused as they could get.

Which, to be honest, wasn't very focused, but it was a good effort.

With a push, the puck slid forward and slowed down gradually and expertly in the middle of the round red circle.

The boy jumped up with a cry of triumph (tossing his paddle in the air which landed on a rather unlucky Pearl). He was surprised by a hug from behind. A pair of slender, pale arms wrapped around his torso. Embroided on their fingers were two rings: a pearl and a diamond.

Diamond was shocked, to say the least. Opening and closing his mouth like a Magikarp out of water, he managed to stammer out a question to his enthusiastic client who was still clinging onto the boy's back.

"Erm...Missy, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" said the girl, innocence in her voice, still clinging on with joy. "I'm giving you a celebratory hug."

"A... A what?"

"You don't know?" the girl questioned, finally releasing her grip on the boy's, now wrinkled, clothes.

Displaying a book she whipped out titled 'How to Make Better Relationships' in front of the still somewhat paralyzed boy, the girl expertly flipped to the designated page.

"Here it is. Chapter 7 page 159 paragraph 3 line 41: Give your friends a hug when they accomplish something. It shows that you support them. This then creates a stronger bond, and..."

Both males (one with a paddle embedded in his head) stared as the scholar droned on and on about other tips that she deemed 'interesting'. Pearl called it 'boring' and 'incorrect'. Diamond fainted while trying to process the information.

The boy was awakened by two gentle hands on his body. Slowly getting up, he realized he wasn't alone in the room. As he rubbed his half-asleep eyes, he noticed that he was back in his (and Pearl's) room. Pearl had taken residence in the leather sofa, his arms loitering over the arm rests, a layer of drying drool surrounding his mouth. Platinum had also fallen asleep, just less 'manly' like. She had fallen asleep on the bed Diamond had slept on, only inches away from him. He was glad no one was around to see his face flush beetroot red.

Ever so carefully, the boy got out of the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping beauty. Upon exiting the sheets without making too much of a ruckus, the boy went over to the dressing table, where his Poketch and beret awaited him. After donning his red beret and strapping on the Pokemon watch, he noticed that it was almost dawn, according to the digital projection shown on the small blue device's screen.

As Diamond pondered what to do in such early hours of the day, He noticed an open book on the dainty dressing table. The boy fought the urge to read it. It was impolite to intrude in another's privacy.

But curiosity eventually got to him.

"Just a peek wouldn't harm anybody, would it?" the boy muttered.

Picking up the book, he felt the leather cover, furry and warm. Closing the book to observe the cover, the boy saw the reddish-brown textures that adorned the book. It's corners were protected by gold of the finest quality. In the middle, the word 'Platinum Berlitz' was printed in italics, in a light gentle shade of pink.

Carefully, Diamond opened the book, flipping to a random page. It read:

Dear Diary,

I'm so excited that I'm able to embark on another adventure with my friends. However, seeing them again seemed to have triggered my mixed feelings for the both of them. What should I do...

The article aroused Diamond's curiosity even further. He flipped to another more recent entry.

Dear Dairy,

Today Diamond fainted during shuffleboard. Not sure what exactly happened, but according to Pearl, he was too weak to take even such activities.

What.

What.

WHAT THE FU-

The enraged boy only just managed to control his emotions from mangling the sleeping blond to death.

As he took deep breaths to compose himself, he noticed the corner of a hiding brochure that had attempted to hide itself with the next page of the mistress' diary. Diamond, whose rage had been replaced with curiosity, returned his attention to the treasure trove of secrets.

Flipping over the page to reveal the brochure's identity, Diamond also unintentionally found a continuation to the previous entry.

Also, the nice (with a bad sense of fashion) man at the reception gave me this brochure. A battle tournament tomorrow at the ship's open battle arena. I'm sure Pearl would want to go. And I'm definitely eager to try competitive battling, but as for Dia...

The entry ended with a long line if dots, leaving Diamond in suspense. What did she want to say?